What are the course contexts and constraints Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course.
How will your course work?
In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.
Does your course serve as a prerequisite for a subsequent course or does it prepare students for a exam? If so, what? Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they?
How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in?
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it?
What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times?
Who are your students, and what do they need? Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support?
In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future?
What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity?
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
What is the support structure for your course?
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course?
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students?
Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
Teaching a course involves making choices about what you will ask your students to do and why. External factors such as context of the course, student demography, and support structure are significant and should influence the choices that you will make as you design your course. Consider the external factors that influence a course and explain why these factors are important to consider before you begin to set realistic goals for the students in your course.
How will your course work?
In addition to the facts, comment both on the challenges to designing your course posed by each factor and on the opportunities presented by each factor that you could take advantage of in designing your course.Does your course serve as a prerequisite for a subsequent course or does it prepare students for a exam? If so, what?
Does your course have prerequisites? If so, what are they?
How big is your course, and what kinds of rooms are available for you to teach in?
Does your course have a lab and/or on-line component, and do you teach it?
What are your options for frequency and duration of class/lab meeting times?
Are your students gifted & talented, middle-of-the-road, or learning support?
In what way might your students use what they have learned in your course in the future?
What is the demography of students in your course in terms of age, race, gender, and ethnicity?
What percentage of students in your course have high-speed computer access outside the at home?
Are you the default computer troubleshooter, or do students and staff have other support people to turn to if they run into difficulty with a computer problem related to your course?
Does your school have writing, quantitative literacy, or oral communications skills centres that can provide supplemental help/instruction for students?
Start by choosing a course or a portion of a course to work on.
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